


A Nightmare I Can't Escape From

by RobinsonsWereHere



Series: Whump Week 2019 [5]
Category: Psych
Genre: Electrocution, Found Family, Gen, Jules whump, Kidnapping, Lassie Whump, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Torture, Whump, Whump Fic, found siblings, whump week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-11
Updated: 2019-07-11
Packaged: 2020-06-26 13:21:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19769068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RobinsonsWereHere/pseuds/RobinsonsWereHere
Summary: While following an anonymous tip, Juliet and Lassiter are kidnapped. It's now up to Shawn and Gus to find them... and of course, Marlowe won't be left behind when someone she loves is in danger.Can the psychic detectives beat out the corrupt lawyers? Or has Santa Barbara seen the last of it's two best detectives?





	A Nightmare I Can't Escape From

**Author's Note:**

> The plot has changed a lot since I had this idea, but now I think I'm happier focusing more on the platonic relationships than the romances. Let me know what you think!

Lassiter wakes blearily to someone saying his name, over and over again. “Carlton.” A pause. “Carlton.” A noise like chains rattling. “Carlton! Wake up, damnit!”

He groans. “What d’you want, O’Hara?”

“Where _are_ we!?”

He scowls, thinking. “Huh. No clue.” When he tries to remember what he’d been doing before being chained to a chair, his head hurts. “I think… I think that was a faulty tip.”

Juliet hums in agreement. 

“Hey, you’re like, incredible at lock picking, right?”

“Not when I can’t reach the lock.”

“Damn.”

Before Carlton can begin to think of an escape plan, a door slide open. He tenses, glaring into the flashlight aimed at his face. _Well, this won’t be good._

\---

Karen frowns at the two empty desks in her bullpen. In seven years, O’Hara and Lassiter have never once both been late on the same day. In fact, until O’Hara had started dating Spencer, neither had been late at all. Yet now, both are absent at once. They should’ve been here an hour ago.

Vaguely concerned, the chief pulls up their work schedules. Had they been working any cases last night? Sure enough, the log revealed that they’d gone to answer an anonymous tip about a drug deal… and never checked back in. She scowls at her computer and dial Lassiter’s number.

_You’ve reached Head Detective Carlton Lassiter. If you’re important, I’ll call you back. If not, just hang up now._

Karen doesn’t leave a voicemail; she knows in her gut that something is wrong- leaving a message won’t help. Still, she calls O’Hara next, just to make sure.

_This is Juliet O’Hara, I’m not available at the moment. Please leave your name and time that you called and I’ll get back to you soon. Shawn, if this is you, we have food in the fridge. You can feed yourself, you are not a child._

Karen sighs as she ends the call. It’s time to start acting. Of course, this isn’t a missing persons case yet- the logs indicate last definite contact had been eight pm, around thirteen hours ago- but two of her detectives are clearly missing.

For starters, she needs to make a few more calls.

\---

Shawn almost literally runs into Marlowe as he enters the station. “What’s up? Haven’t seen you in a while. What brings you here?”

Marlowe looks pale and afraid. “Um, same thing as you?”

He raises an eyebrow. “I didn’t think you could do any of this,” he says, holding a hand to his temple.

Marlowe frowns. “No, I meant because Carlton and Juliet are… missing, according to Chief Vick. He hasn’t been answering my calls, he didn’t come home last night, and when I called her to ask if he was still here, she admitted she thought he’d run into trouble on his last case last night.”

Shawn swallows hard. He had fallen asleep at the Psych office, and not bothered to so much as text Juliet upon waking up. He’d assumed she was at the station, that he’d see her as soon as he walked into the briefing room for the case he’d been called in for…

After exchanging glances with Gus, he gives Marlowe a tight smile. “Well, don’t worry. We’ll find them.” He heads quickly for the chief’s office. “Chief!”

“Mr. Spencer, you’re hardly even late, what a pleasant surprise-”

“Hey, funny thing, Marlowe just told me something you forgot to mention over the phone…” Shawn shoves his hands into his jean pockets and leans against the doorframe of her office. “She said something about Jules and Lassie being AWOL. You know, even the spirits hadn’t given my that little tidbit, a heads up would’ve been nice.”

Chief Vick sighs through gritted teeth. “Mr. Spencer, while I recognize that you’re concerned for Detective O’Hara, I don’t appreciate your flippancy.”

“Oh, Chief, I assure you, I’m far from flippant.” Shawn can’t help but glare a little; the woman he loves is missing, and he hadn’t even been properly informed.

“Good, Mr. Spencer, because I am going to need you to take things very seriously starting now. I understand that you’re emotional about this, but right now, you and Mr. Guster are the best chance any of us have at finding Lassiter and O’Hara.” She fixes him with a severe look. “Do we understand each other?”

Shawn takes a deep breath. _Getting pissed won’t save Jules._ “Loud and clear.”

\---

Juliet freezes, every muscle in her body tensing as the door opens and a figure with a flashlight enters. “Oh good, you’re both awake,” a female voice notes. “Now we can get started.”

_Started? Started with what?_

The woman aims her flashlight at Carlton’s face. Juliet sees her partner squint balefully into the light. “Head Detective Carlton Lassiter,” their captor mutters. “Been with the SBPD since you graduated college. God, I’d love to know what sort of secrets you could tell me.”

Lassiter only glares at her. The next thing Juliet knows, the flashlight is shining in her own eyes.

“Detective Juliet O’Hara. Been with the SBPD for almost a decade. I think you know more than you let on.”

Juliet is well trained. She doesn’t take the bait; in fact, she says nothing at all.

“Well, it’s true that I’m the one looking for information here, but…” the woman swings her flashlight back and forth across the pair. “I’m not the best suited to obtaining it. RJ! Max! You boys ready?”

Juliet’s brain is in overdrive, frantically cataloguing information. _We’re here because they want information. My gut says this isn’t about drugs. Max and RJ are probably aliases._

One of the men stands in front of her, the other near Carlton. “How did you tie Eva Bennet’s murder to Fisher Law?” asks the woman.

Neither detective answers. And then, all of the sudden, the man in front of Lassiter hits him with a solid punch to the left eye. “She’s talkin’ to you.”

“Well, I’m sure as hell not talking back,” growls Carlton.

Another punch, and the another. Blood sprays from his nose, and Juliet begins to struggle against the cold metal chains. “Hey, cut it out. This isn’t a fair fucking fight.”

Her personal guard backhands her across the face. “Shut it, bitch,” he snarls. “You’ll get your turn.”

“No, you’re missing something here. I’m not going to let you hurt him.”

RJ looks like he wants to lunge, but the woman in charge gives him a look. “Well, Detective O’Hara, if you told us how you connected Fisher Law with Eva Bennet’s murder, we might let up on your partner.”

Juliet hates every minute of this, and she channels as much of that as she can into the glare she gives the woman. “Go to hell.”

An icy frown appears on the woman’s face. “Very well. Hit him harder.”

\---

Gus frowns as he reads through the file in his hands. “Shawn… I don’t think these are our guys.”

The chief had given them full access to all of the files on the drug ring suspected of calling in the tip that had gotten Lassiter and Juliet kidnapped, but to Gus, it just doesn’t seem likely.

“I don’t know what to tell you, Gus,” Shawn mutters. “This is what they were doing when they dropped off the grid. It’s all we have to go on.”

Marlowe ducks into the conference room at that moment, glancing over her shoulder. “Hi. I’m not supposed to be here. But, um, Carlton mentioned something to me the other night… he was telling me to be extra careful about locking up for the night, because of a case he was working on. Some law firm that had gone bad and was connected to multiple killings?”

Gus looks from her to Shawn, who is staring at Marlowe in amazement. “Marlowe, that’s fantastic!” He jumps from his chair, sending papers everywhere. Before he’s even out of the room, he’s yelling. “Chief! The spirits have given me another straw to grasp at!”

\---

Lassiter scowls in the direction of the guy hitting him, but after taking countless blows to the face, his eyes won’t focus. The right one is swollen shut. He can feel blood running down his face and neck from his nose. “I am not telling you _anything,”_ he snarls.

The guy whose name might be Max lets out a threatening growl and pummels Carlton, once, twice, three times in the stomach. The head detective reflexively vomits, bending to the side so he doesn’t puke into his own lap. Still bent over, he sees Max look to the woman in charge, who frowns. “Leave him for now,” she orders. “Give them some time. Perhaps they’ll come to their senses, and be more talkative.”

The sound of O’Hara struggling against her bonds reaches Carlton’s ears, and he groans before she even speaks- or rather, yells. “You won’t get what you want, you corrupt cretin!”

All three of their captors had been heading out, but at Juliet’s words, Max turned back. He stalked across the cement floor and back to the detectives, where he gripped O’Hara’s throat far too tightly in one meaty hand. “If you ain’t careful, you ain’t gonna be able to talk, princess,” he growled. With that, he followed his companions out, leaving a gasping O’Hara and worried Lassiter in his wake.

“I don’t know why that pissed him off so much,” she pants. “He didn’t really act like he had enough brain in his head to know what ‘cretin’ meant.”

Lassiter’s heart is still hammering in his chest and the taste of vomit lingers in his mouth. He can’t laugh at her joke. “You’ve been spending too much time with Spencer.”

She gives a noncommittal hum, and after reflection, Carlton sighs. “Sorry for making you think of him… god, I miss Marlowe too.”

Juliet coughs. “How long has it been? Are we legally missing yet?”

“Nah. But when we don’t show up, the chief will figure out that we disappeared while technically on the job. That means she can take action.”

O’Hara’s response turns into a coughing fit, and Lassiter struggles against his bonds to turn to her. “Are you alright? Damn, do they even have water here?”

“Not that I can tell,” she rasps. “We’d better hope the chief starts looking soon.”

\---

Shawn blinks at the clock. It’s half-past midnight. _God, I can’t believe I fell asleep._ He knows there’s something, somewhere, that he can use as leverage to make the lawyers talk to him. He just has to find it.

Unfortunately, at the worst possible time, he’s having trouble focusing. He can’t think of anything but the fact that it’s been over twenty-four hours, now, since Jules was last seen. He can’t think of anything but the fact that she’s tied up somewhere, probably beaten and bloody. Or worse.

“Snap out of it, Spencer,” he mutters to himself. “You’re gonna find her. You just gotta keep looking.”

\---

Juliet spits blood, then glares into the face of her attacker. “Give the fuck up already. I. Am not. Talking.”

He gives her a cold smile and then turns away. When he faces her again, he’s holding a long rod with a rubber handle. Wires run out of the bottom, disappearing into the shadows on the floor, but just visible crawling up the wall to what Juliet hopes is not a circuit box. He digs the tip of the rod into her right shoulder.

It is definitely connected to the circuit box.

Juliet screams in pain as her body is wracked with volts. The metal chains certainly don’t help, and even after direct contact with th rod stops, she sees electricity arcing through the links. She doesn’t even catch her breath before he does it again. The only thing she can think is that she’s almost glad they’re using electrocution. The pain is so intense that she can hardly remember her name, let alone sensitive case information. They couldn’t get anything out of her even if she wanted to tell them.

The electricity keeps coming until Juliet can’t scream anymore. She’s shaking all over, and her heart won’t stop racing. Only once she stops making noise does the lead woman put a hand on RJ’s shoulder. “That’s enough for now. Maybe she’ll be more cooperative when we come back.”

Juliet’s brain is literally fried, so much so that she doesn’t even notice Carlton calling her name. Although that might be because he almost never uses her first name. “Juliet,” he repeats, for the third or fourth time.

She blinks. “Huh?”

“Are you alright?”

“Uh… no.” She can’t make her brain work enough to reassure him. “Um. I think I’m gonna go to sleep.”

\---

When their tormentors return, Carlton is just glad the electric rod is no longer pointed at O’Hara. Sure, this means he’ll have to endure way too many volts of electricity, but she won’t at least. Only, when big, beefy Max is prepping the rod, Juliet speaks. “Wait.”

“You got somethin’ to say, girlie?”

“It’s _Detective._ But yes.”

He brandishes the rod in her direction. “Then speak up.”

Carlton whips his head around to stare at his partner. Surely she’s not…”

“One of your interns let slip that you-” she jerks her head toward the woman in charge- “had a vendetta against the Bennet family. When we realized it was legit, we started to think you might be involved.”

Carlton blinks. He knows for a fact that every word of that statement is categorically false. But Boss Lady doesn’t.

“Which intern?”

“Um… I don’t remember. Scrawny looking kid, glasses, messy hair that needed a trim?”

His partner, Carlton knows, never forgets a witness’ name.

The woman sighs. “You’ve just described every law intern in Santa Barbara.”

O’Hara furrows her brow, putting on a big show of thinking hard. “His name might have been… oh, I don’t know. My head still hurts from the electrocution.”

Apparently, their captors buy it. After several minutes of deliberation, they all exit the basement. O’Hara sighs in relief. “Thank god that worked.”

“You realize you’re gonna get it ten times worse when they realize you lied?”

She makes eye contact with him, despite the dark. “Worth it, to save you.”

He groans. “Juliet…”

“What, Carlton? Do you seriously fault me for trying to keep you safe? You’re my partner!”

“Well you’re more than that to me!”

Dead silence. O’Hara’s eyes are wide. Carlton sighs. “Not like that. Of course not. Damn, how do I say this?” He thinks for a moment. “Look, until the age of fourteen, I was an only child. My sister and I were never that close. Don’t get me wrong, I love Lauren. But if she’s my sister, if that bond is strong enough to be called family… than you sure as hell should count as my sister too.”

Juliet is silent for a while, and Carlton reminds himself of all of the reasons why he doesn’t reveal his emotions. And then, in a choked voice she speaks.

“You’re my family too, Carlton. And if I wasn’t chained to a chair, I would hug you right now.”

“If I weren’t chained to a chair, I would accept it.”

\---

“Shawn, I am calling the chief. We are not following a murderer into someplace we think she’s keeping two people captive already.”

Before Shawn can argue, Marlowe does. “Seriously Gus, you wanna involve the cops? The cops never helped anyone!”

“Uh, Marlowe, you _married_ a cop.”

“Right. But in general, involving the police only slows things down.”

Shawn claps Marlowe on the shoulder as they follow the woman to the back door of a breaking-down house. “You know that’s right.” And then the woman climbs down to the basement, and Shawn follows, an enthusiastic Marlowe and reluctant Gus in his wake.

When they get down there, Shawn realizes there’s good news and bad news.

Good news: Jules and Lassie are there, and they’re awake, if a little battered.

Bad news: so is Sketchy Woman and two other guys.

What ensues is a standoff of sorts: the Bad Guys have what looks like a cattle prod- and their bare fists- and Shawn and Gus have… nothing. Marlowe, however, has a gun.

From where he’s chained to the chair, Lassie grins. “Is that one of mine? I love you.”

Marlowe beams at him and Shawn turns to Juliet, expecting advice or encouragement or a similar sentiment to Lassie’s. Instead, she glares at him. “Shawn, what were you thinking!? Did you bring a weapon?”

He points to Marlowe.

“Did you bring the SBPD?”

“No…”

“Did you call for backup?”

“Does Gus count?”

She groans. “I’ve fallen in love with an idiot.”

“So you admit you love me. I’ll take it.”

Shawn should be trying to get them out of this situation, but he’s too focused on Jules. She’s bleeding and beaten and when she looks at him, her eyes are unfocused. He wonders if she’s concussed.

“I don’t think you can even fire that gun,” Lawyer Woman says to Marlowe.

Marlowe cocks the gun. “Wanna bet?”

As the tension in the air increases, Shawn hears sirens outside. All attention turns to the door.

The woman looks around, making a decision. “RJ,” she says to the man with the lightning stick, “get ready to jab our head detective here.”

Marlowe and Jules both make objecting noises, but the doors bang open and RJ thrusts the rod into Lassie’s ribs. And then there are cops everywhere and people are yelling and Henry is right in front of Shawn, muttering about foolishness and not telling anybody where he’s going. Shawn gives him a half hug and a thank you, and then runs to Juliet.

“No, Shawn, get Carlton-”

“There are a dozen cops here who can help Lassie. I just wanna get you safe,” he breathes. 

She smiles at him with watery eyes. “Shawn, as long as you’re here, I feel safe.”

He chuckles, wishing he could get the chains off her. “That’s a pretty low standard.”

Her eyes flutter closed and she leans her head on his shoulder. “Maybe. Don’t care.”

He slides an arm around her shoulders. “Alright, Jules. You’re alright. I’ve got you.”

\---

In the hospital, Juliet learns that she and Carlton had been trapped in that basement for three days. They have to stay for ‘observation’ for twice that long. Neither Shawn nor Marlowe want to leave- not that Juliet blames them- but when they do, she and Carlton mostly just lay there in silence. Until Juliet speaks.

“Carlton?”

“Yeah?”

“How are you doing.”

There’s a long silence. “I’m afraid to sleep. I’m afraid to let my guard down at all.”

She nods, even thought he motion still kind of makes her dizzy. “And the shadows in the corners look a little too solid.”

“I hate the goddamn bars on this bed.”

“I saw a burly looking nurse earlier and froze for a full five minutes.”

“Don’t even get me started on the long thermometers.”

Juliet turns to look him in the eyes. “We’re not okay, are we?”

Carlton shakes his head. “Not in the slightest.”

“But we’re alive. And we still have each other, and the people we love. Surely we’ll be alright soon.”

Her partner groans. “Sure thing, Juliet. I’m gonna get some shut-eye.”

She doesn’t mention that it’s one in the afternoon. “I’ll stay awake.”

“You don’t have to.”

“But you want me to. And I want to.”

Carlton’s sigh is even heavier this time. “Yeah… the habit is gonna be hard to shake.”

“Get some sleep. We can switch when the nurse comes in.”

He’s already snoring softly. Juliet gives a small smile and picks up her book, but her eyes stay on the doorway.

_God,_ Juliet thinks. _This whole week has been a nightmare._

**Author's Note:**

> That last line was rewritten so many times before I liked it... thanks for reading! leave a comment or kudos if you want!


End file.
